Miniature railroad rail



Feb. 22, 1949. E. J. DAUGHTON MINIATURE RAILROAD RAIL Filed Sept. 15, 1947 Edward J. Doug/lion Patented Feb. 22, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MINIATURE RAILROAD RAIL' Edward J. Daughton, 'Elmwood Park, in. V

Application September 15, 1947, Serial No. 774,134

3 Claims. (01. 191-22) Thisinvention relates to new and useful improvements and structural refinements 1n ra1ls for miniature railroads, more specifically, minia-- 'turerailroads of the electric type, which usually embody various types of electrically actuated acces sories, such as for example, signal lights, level crossing guards, or the like.

' These accessories are, as aforesaid, electrically actuated and are usually set in operation by the H passage of a train past a predetermined point on the track, for which purpose an auxiliary rail is commonly provided adjacent the track, "so that it may be contacted by a cooperating flange portion 16, these portions coacting, when collector shoe, or some other current pick-updevice, provided on the locomotive or one 'of the cars. However, the provision of such an auxiliary rail detracts considerably from the realistic appearance of the railroad layout, particularly the half sections are placed adjacent one another to form the head, the web and the base flange of the rail, as will be clearly apparent. I

A filler of suitable insulating material "is provided between and within the half-sections l2, l3, this filler possessing what maybe referred in instances where the so-called three-rail system of track is used, and in addition, the provision of the auxiliary rail contacting shoe on the train frequently involves complicated structural considerations.,,., a It is, therefore, the principal object of the invention to provide a miniature railroad rail which eliminates the disadvantages above outlined by combining, as it were, the auxiliary rail with one of the trafiic rails into a single unit, the appearance. .oiv which is not much difierent from that of an ordinary ,trafiic rail.

A further object of the invention is to provide ,a railroadrail of the character described which is simple in construction, which may be easily installed in position, and which is otherwise'well 1 adapted for the purpose for which it is intended.

With the above more important objects in view and such other objects as may become apparent as this specification proceeds, the invention consists essentially of the construction and arrangement of parts as shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a miniature railroad track, illustrating the invention embodied therein;

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view, taken substantially in a plane of the line |2--2 in Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a wiring diagram showing the preferred electrical connections which may be employed when the instant rail is placed in use,

Figure 4 is an end view of the rails with the bonding material removed.

Like characters of reference are used to designate like parts in the specification and throughout the several views.

to as bonding qualities, whereby thetwo halfs'ections are firmly and rigidly secured together. To facilitate the bonding of the two half-sections, the longitudinal edges of the strips from which the half-sections are formed are inturned or angulated so as to provide channel-shaped bonding members [8 in the head and flange portions [4, I6, respectively, the members I8 being embedded in the filler l1, substantially as shown.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the half-sections l2, 13, together with the insulating filler ll, assume the form of a single unit or rail, and when the invention is placed in'use, this rail maybe secured in the conventional manner to a plurality of sleepers I 9, by

2 means of suitable keeper plates or lugs 2ll with which the sleepers are provided. Needless to say,

the lugs 20 engage the flanges l6 of the rails, and the sleepers should either be formed from insulating material, or insulation should be provided at the point of contact of the rail with the sleepers and with the lugs '20, so that the halfsections I2, l3 are electrically isolated.

The rail H thus constitutes one of the trafilc rails of the track, the remaining traffic rail 2| being of any suitable type. In the accompanying drawings, the track shown is of the two rail type, that is to say, the train wheels in each pair are insulated one from the other, so that electric current may be delivered to the train driving motor through the medium of one rail and one wheel and returned by the second wheel and second rail. These wheels are illus-' trated at 22, 23 in the accompanying Figure 3.

However, it will be found that the invention will function with equal efiectiveness if the socalled three rail system of track is employed.

When the invention is placed in use and electrical connections are being made, reference should be had to the accompanying Figure 3, wherein 24, 25 represent a source of electric current, such as for example, the secondary terminals of a step-down transformer. The terminal 24 may be connected by means of a conductor 26 to the traffic rail 2|, and if desired, a suitable rheostat 21 may be inserted in series in the conductor 26, for obvious reasons.

The second terminal 25 is, in turn, connected by a conductor 28 to the rail half-section 13, while 29 designates the train driving motor, the poles of which are connected as at 30, 3| to the wheels 22, 23, respectively.

It will be seen from the foregoing that electric current will be delivered to the motor 29 through the conductor 26, the rail 2| the wheel 22 and the conductor 30, While the return path of the current from the motor is facilitated by the conductor 3|, the wheel 23, the rail half-section l3 and the conductor 28.

The various track-side accessories are represented in the wiring diagram by a signal lamp 32 which is connected to the conductor 26 as at 33, and also, to the rail half-section l2 as at 34.

It should be explained at this point that normally, the railroad track employs two rails of the type illustrated at 2|, but in that portion of the track which is intended to actuate the accessories, one of the rails 2! is substituted by a suitable length of the rail ll.

Normally, the circuit through the lamp 32 is broken by the insulating filler I? provided between the rail half-sections I2, l3, but when the train wheel 23 travels over the rail II, the two halfsections l2, 13 are electrically united through the medium of the wheel, and as a result, electric circuit to the lamp 32 is completed and the lamp is energized.

The advantages of the invention thus become clearly apparent, but it should be understood that while in the accompanying Figure 3 a preferred wiring diagram has been shown, other suitable electrical connections may, of course, be employed.

However, the advantages of the wiring diagram illustrated are clearly apparent, since the circuit to the lamp 32 is independent from the circuit to the motor 29, and as a result, the lamp will be energized even though the motor 29 may be stationary, providing of course, that the wheel 23 electrically connects the rail half-sections l2, l3 together.

It is believed that the advantages and use of the invention will be clearly apparent from the foregoing disclosure and accordingly, further description thereof at this point is deemed unnecessary.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention it is to be understood that minor changes in the details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A miniature railroad rail, comprising a pair of electrically conductive complementary rail half-sections disposed in spaced parallel relation, each of said half-sections comprising a strip angulated to form a partial hollolw head portion, a web member and a hollow flange portion, inturned bonding members provided on said head and flange portions, and a filler of insulating and bonding material provided between and within said half-sections to maintain the half-sections in rigid, spaced and insulated relationship, said bonding members being embedded in said filler.

2. A miniature railroad rail, comprising a pair of electrically conductive complementary rail half-sections disposed in spaced parallel relation, each of said half-sections comprising a strip angulated to form a partial hollow head portion, a web member and a hollow flange portion, the longitudinal edges of said strip being inturned to provide channel-shaped bonding members in said head and flange portions, and a filler of insulating and bonding material provided be- 35 tween and within said half-sections to maintain the half-sections in rigid, spaced and insulated relationship, said bonding members being embedded in said filler.

3. The combination of claim 1 and said in- 40 turned bonding members including angularly bent portions integral with said head and flange portions.

EDWARD J. DAUGHTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

